The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind
by James Boyle
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Description
In this enlightening book James Boyle describes what he calls the range wars of the information age-today's heated battles over intellectual property. Boyle argues that just as every informed citizen needs to know at least something about the environment or civil rights, every citizen should also understand intellectual property law. Why? Because intellectual property rights mark out the ground rules of the information society, and today's policies are unbalanced, unsupported by evidence, show more and often detrimental to cultural access, free speech, digital creativity, and scientific innovation. Boyle identifies as a major problem the widespread failure to understand the importance of the public domain-the realm of material that everyone is free to use and share without permission or fee. The public domain is as vital to innovation and culture as the realm of material protected by intellectual property rights, he asserts, and he calls for a movement akin to the environmental movement to preserve it. With a clear analysis of issues ranging from Jefferson's philosophy of innovation to musical sampling, synthetic biology and Internet file sharing, this timely book brings a positive new perspective to important cultural and legal debates. If we continue to enclose the "commons of the mind," Boyle argues, we will all be the poorer. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Very informative and balanced presentation of how our copyright laws are way out of balance between the public good of invention and creative works and compensation for the creator of that work. The final chapter on openness aversion was really good.
Boyle does a very good job articulating the forces at work in the copyright debate, and, since his book focuses on the public domain, unlike most authors on this subject, he actually focuses on a feasible solution. It was very good. It's not going to convince people to pay attention to copyright issues all on its own, but it is an approachable, engaging book on the topic that could get people thinking.
An outstanding book which takes a hard look at the mistakes we have made in copyright and patent law in the past century and explains the negative impact this has on access to knowledge now and in the future.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in this subject.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in this subject.
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The Enlightened Economist
107 works; 1 member
Author Information
17+ Works 565 Members
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2008-12-09
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I cannot match the terseness or the rhyme, but if we assume that the encolsure of the commons of the mind will bring us prosperity, great science, and vibrant culture, well, we will look like very silly geese indeed.
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- Members
- 233
- Popularity
- 139,672
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.01)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
